Shloka 4

धृतराष्ट्रस्य वनप्रस्थानानुज्ञा | Permission for Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Forest-Retirement

Devanagari script

वैशम्पायन उवाच एवमुक्त: स राजर्षिर्धर्मराजेन धीमता । कौन्तेयं समनुज्ञातुमियेष भरतर्षभ

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca

evam uktaḥ sa rājarṣir dharmarājena dhīmatā |

kaunteyaṁ samanugñātum iyeṣa bharatarṣabha ||

…

yadā duryodhanenedaṁ bhukte rājyam akaṇṭakam ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : «Ô taureau parmi les Bharata, lorsque le sage Dharmarāja (Yudhiṣṭhira) eut parlé ainsi, le roi-sage Dhṛtarāṣṭra voulut demander au fils de Kuntī (Yudhiṣṭhira) la permission de partir. Il commença à parler, se rappelant le temps où Duryodhana avait joui du royaume sans entrave—posant le cadre moral de son retrait et de sa responsabilité après la ruine engendrée par l’adharma.»

Word by Word

• {'evam': 'thus, in this manner', 'uktaḥ': 'having been spoken to

• addressed', 'sa': 'he, that (person)', 'rājarṣiḥ': 'royal sage

• a king of saintly disposition', 'dharmarājena': 'by Dharmarāja (Yudhiṣṭhira)

• by the king devoted to dharma', 'dhīmatā': 'by the intelligent, wise one', 'kaunteyam': 'the son of Kuntī

• Yudhiṣṭhira (also a general epithet for the Pāṇḍavas)', 'samanugñātum': 'to obtain full permission/leave

• to take consent respectfully', 'iyeṣa': 'desired, intended', 'bharatarṣabha': 'O best of the Bharatas (honorific address)', 'yadā': 'when', 'duryodhanena': 'by Duryodhana', 'idam': 'this', 'bhukte': 'was enjoyed/ruled over

• experienced as possession', 'rājyam': 'kingdom, sovereignty', 'akaṇṭakam': 'without thorn/obstacle

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Dharmarāja (Yudhiṣṭhira)
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• Kuntī
• Duryodhana
• Bharatas (dynasty)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even a king must act within dharma: major life-transitions (like withdrawal/renunciation) are undertaken with humility and consent, and are framed by honest remembrance of how unchecked power (akaṇṭaka-rājya) can enable adharma and lead to ruin.

What is happening in the narrative?

After Yudhiṣṭhira speaks, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, described as a rājarṣi, wishes to take leave from Yudhiṣṭhira (the Kaunteya) to depart—beginning a reflective statement that looks back to the period when Duryodhana ruled without opposition.